A year ago today this kid made his grand appearance. This last year has been rough with many highs and lows, but we survived. We’ve all survived. But I’m especially proud of myself and that survival thing.

This kid is officially one and we celebrated with Peter Rabbit and carrot cake. I’ve promised the husband that I won’t go so overboard on the future. I really couldn’t help it, though – Peter Rabbit is just about my favorite kids book ever and Declan really loves the bunnies in the books we have and the one I knit him. And, truthfully, I didn’t really go THAT overboard – I had probably 100 different ideas for food and whatnot and ended up keeping all of that simple. So, really, he should thank me for not doing all the things I wanted to do.

Peter Rabbit will be making an appearance from now on every Easter, especially since we don’t celebrate the religious aspect of the holiday, so I can’t wait to dig all these decorations back out next Spring (see, it can’t count as going overboard if you’re going to actually re-use the decorations every year for a holiday, right?). The bunny cake was… eh. I don’t understand how to bake with these fancy pans – the instructions say to make the sides of the cake higher than the middle… but, hello, gravity called: they’re breaking up with your silly directions. I don’t know, maybe I’m doing something wrong? The one half of the bunny had broken ears, and there was no way I was going to be able to shave the sides down to piece this thing together to make the 3D cake I imagined. But, you know? I don’t even care – it looks damn adorable sitting on a bed of kale on my cake plate regardless.

With so much rain and dreary days it hasn’t much felt like summer on the days I’m home. Today, though… today is different. Today is officially a summer day. Hot, sunny, with the sun beating on your back. Finally I could blow up the baby pool and go outside with the Little Mr and play. He wasn’t much interested in sitting in the pool, and that’s probably my fault because I didn’t fill it up this morning for the water to warm until now, but it turns out he really wanted to play in the sprinkler setting on our hose attachment. So we sat there while he ran his hands through and picked up the hose and waved it around, splashing himself in the face and then getting angry about it and throwing it back down on the ground. Then it was back inside for something cold – frozen pureed pear in a mesh feeder for him, and coconut cream pie ice cream for me.

In an act of rebellion, women took to their spinning wheels, their knitting needles, and their looms. If you were a Patriot, you wore homemade clothes from homespun yarn.

You know, this is something I can really get behind. I don’t really attend any kind of 4th of July BBQ or anything and I rarely make a big deal out of the holiday, though now that we have the kid I feel like I should step up my game a bit. But spinning and knitting? Yeah, I’m down with that. Can we just trade out the usual over-the-top patriotism of the 4th of July with more of a low-key BBQ and spin/knit-in? Because I will gladly scrub my house and buy a bunch of burgers and steaks to feed everyone if that’s the kid of celebration we’re going to have.

Anyway.

Tour de France starts tomorrow, which means Tour de Fleece starts as well. I wasn’t sure if I was going to even participate this year – I haven’t spun anything since last year before the baby. But, with part of my “look for happiness in the little things” idea from yesterday, I decided I need to do it. The weather is nice, and I always love being out on the patio, so it’s a perfect excuse to do both after the baby goes to bed and take some time to do something that makes me happy.

I won’t be able to spin every day, nor am I spinning my traditional thin yarn, but it’s spinning and making and creating, which is something I’ve been needing to do more. I decided to start a bit early and go ahead and spin a bit. The fiber is Malabrigo Nube, and it’s what I picked up on my annual yarn shopping trip this year. I’m using my lace flyer but I’m trying to spin it thicker than usual so it a. doesn’t take a year to finish and b. will be something thicker to knit up that also won’t take a year to finish. I’m hoping the lace flyer will help keep the twist nice and bouncy once I ply it up. I’m not sure what I’m planning yet to knit it into – probably a hat. Not that I need more hats. Maybe I’ll pair it with some stash yarn for a baby cardigan or something? I figure if I knit up a few things here and there in different sizes then I’ll have some gift knits in the future and won’t have to stress over not being able to get something knit up in time.

Or, maybe (most likely, really), it’ll just sit in a plastic bin with the other hand spun until I get around to deciding what to make out of it.

Friday night I attended my first book club. My dear friend has been talking about it for a while, and she’s constantly telling me “you need to come with me” so I can meet other people. More specifically, other local moms. I think it’s her way of trying to make me feel less alone in my struggles while also trying to get me out of the house so I can get a break from life. And since I always say I want to read more, and since I’m trying to find ways to sneak in time for myself (as much as I hate them, I’ve taken to reading ebooks on my phone since I can do that while the baby naps on me), I decided to buy the book (The Girl on the Train) and read it and attend the discussion.

We met at a local place I haven’t been to before. It’s a pub/grill next to the courthouse, and all of the sandwiches are named cutesy names related to the courts/jail. I really hate to admit it, but we’re horrible about not eating at the “local” places. Our town is full of chain restaurants, so you’d think we’d make a point to support the local places more, but we’re just not good at it. We forget about them. Or, as is the case with this place, because it doubles as a bar and a lot of the downtown bars are gross, we just ignore it and go on thinking it’s bad like the rest of them. I’m happy to report that I was severely mistaken, and that this place is quite lovely. There wasn’t much seating inside, and we had a group of 6, so we were set up outside under a tent on the patio. It was rainy and drizzly and fairly cool for a late June evening, but it was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And this view? Surely it doesn’t rival that of those I know others have in their towns, but this patio felt quite cute as far as outdoor patios downtown go.

Book club itself was ok. Things are always awkward when you’re the new kid at something. The book was just okay for me, too, so it wasn’t anything I was really thrilled to discuss. But it was a nice change, and nice to get to go hang out with some new people. The next book we’re reading is Holly Madison’s tell-all on the Playboy Mansion, which I’m probably a bit too excited about. The Girls Next Door was my guilty pleasure for years. I bought it and have it on my phone, I just need to finish the book I’m already reading, first (Cinder).

Welcome

Pardon the garden. A phrase I’m most likely to utter anytime anyone visits the house during the growing seasons of spring through fall. Sure, there are pretty flowers and delicious veggies in there somewhere, but they might be a little hard to find amidst the mess of overgrown grass, dandelions, and weeds that have found their way in there and haven’t been pulled. Read On